


Worth It

by WonderBoy



Series: Growing Up Ain't What It Seems [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A New Defender, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Episode Rewrite: s4e6, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Gen, Glimpse Of The Future, M/M, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 07:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13497200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderBoy/pseuds/WonderBoy
Summary: Keith doesn't mean to stare, but the last thing he expected to see was a man, somewhere in his thirties perhaps, who was unmistakably...him. Longer hair, more scars, and a prosthetic leg, but him. He should have expected it, on some level, seeing an older version of himself after meeting an older Lance, but there's something more off-putting about it being his own face aged up so much. It's as much a relief as it is a shock to learn he lives this long.





	Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea last night as I was falling asleep at like 3 am and then brainstormed most of the convo in the shower this morning so its a rushed, short little thing and the idea is probably well over-done by now but here we are.
> 
> I also couldn't decide where this fit in the time line because Keith is from the past but there's info about the future so if you have any opinions about the series line-up in regards to this piece, I'd be happy to hear 'em.

Keith doesn't mean to stare, but the last thing he expected to see was a man, somewhere in his thirties perhaps, who was unmistakably him. Longer hair, more scars, and a prosthetic leg, but him. He should have expected it, on some level, seeing an older version of himself after meeting an older Lance, but there's something more off-putting about it being his own face aged up so much. It's as much a relief as it is a shock to learn he lives this long.

His prosthetic has been removed, propped against the couch besides him where he sits on the floor. An open but forgotten book lies on the other side of him, while his focus is on the small alien sitting between his legs. Even from afar, Keith can tell the child is Galra, but he's not sure what to make of his older self carefully accepting small, colorful toys from the child. His older self smiles softly as the child speaks and it is not a look he is familiar with seeing on his own face.

Beside him, Older Lance sighs, running a hand over the back of his head. His hair is shaved short, except for the top, and it kind of reminds Keith of Shiro’s hair style. He wonders how his Lance-his time Lance-would feel about the comparison.

“I was hoping Kaia wouldn't be here for this,” Older Lance mumbles.

Keith can only guess he means the Galra child. “Why?”

Older Lance glances at him out of the corner of his eye. It's still Lance's “suspicious” look but there's something else behind it that he doesn't recognize. “What did you say last happened to you?”

“We were fighting a Galra fleet on Naxzela. Matt’s back?”

Older Lance sighs again, but before he can say anything else, Hunk comes toward them. “Hey Lance, Keith,” He makes it another few steps past them before he freezes, turning back around comically slow. “Uh...Lance, why is Keith a teenager again?”

Older Lance has a brushing of stubble along his jaw, but Older Hunk looks well on his way to actually growing a beard. He also has on a pair of glasses that Keith’s Hunk has never worn. And if Keith thought his Hunk looked strong, Older Hunk could probably bench press him one handed. He isn’t sure how Older Hunk managed to look simultaneously softer and scarier than his Hunk, but he also isn’t totally surprised.

Older Lance points to the room behind them, where the other Keith and the small child still sit, unaware of them. Older Hunk looks between the Keiths for a few minutes, as if not sure what he was seeing.

“He came to the future?” he finally concludes.

Older Lance grimaces. “Not exactly.” With no other warning, he shoves his hand through Keith’s chest.

Keith can’t feel anything, but he flinches anyways, uselessly swatting at Older Lance’s arm as his hand passes right through the offending limb. “Would you stop doing that?”

Older Hunk bites his bottom lip as he watches the two of them bicker. “So what...Astral Projection? Or is this some ghost of the past coming to visit?”

Older Lance stops poking at Keith to stare, aghast, at Older Hunk. “Don’t even put that out there!” He waves his hand, as if to clear the air. “This Keith says the last thing that he remembers happening before showing up here was a fight on Naxzela. Lotor and Matt were both involved.”

It only takes Older Hunk a moment to realize what event he’s talking about. “Oh wow,” Older Hunk looks at Keith again, differently, like he was suddenly seeing him in a new light. “Oh wow, I knew he was young but, I mean that was even before you-”

Older Lance clears his throat loudly, cutting him off. “Allura and Coran, or even Shiro, might know what to do to send him back, but they’re all planetside,” He looks to the room again. “Could you take Kaia? I don’t want her to see this.”

“Right, it’d be hard to explain to her why her dad’s a teenager. I got it.”

Keith and Lance both freeze, though Keith imagines its for different reasons.

“Her...what?” He asks, gaping at the two of them.

“Hunk!”

Hunk grimaces. “Oh I shouldn’t have said that.” He points to the room. “I-I’m gonna go get Kaia. Okay. H-Have fun.”

Hunk darts into the room before Lance can stop him. Keith can hear Hunk say “Hey sweetness,” before Lance turns to face him, blocking Keith’s view of the room. And the room’s occupants’ view of him.

“What are the chances you just...won’t ask about that slip?”

Keith squints up at him. “Zero.”

“Yeah I figured,” Lance glances behind him. “Okay, just...stay behind me for a moment.”

Turning on his heel, he heads to the open room as well. Older Keith was in the process of picking up his book once again when he sees Lance coming towards him and stops. Keith is almost _positive_ he imagines the smile Older Keith wears when he sees Lance.

“We have a small problem,” Lance declares, and Keith isn’t sure that’s the best way to start this off when the smile disappears and Older Keith immediately drops his book in exchange for reaching for his prosthetic. Lance crouches beside him, laying a hand on his arm to stop him. “Not like that. Hopefully.”

The deadpan look Older Keith gives him after that is a little more familiar. “Then what?”

Lance looks back to the hall where Keith still stands, half in the doorway, half out. Older Keith follows his gaze, and Keith recognizes the exact moment his older self figures it out.

“Oh.” Older Keith pushes himself up, letting Lance help guide him back to the couch in order to sit on it. He reattaches his prosthetic silently, expertly, before rolling his pant leg down over the metal limb. “How long has he been here?”

Lance shakes his head, pushing himself up to sit on the couch beside him. “I think just a few minutes, but I found him on one of the upper levels. Just standing there.”

“Astral projection?”

Lance nods. “Unless he’s a ghost. Hunk suggested it, not me.” Lance glances back at Keith. “Hunk also let it slip about...you know.”

Older Keith stares at Lance cluelessly. “About what?”

Lance sighs. “About Kaia. At least, that you’re her father.”

“Oh,” Older Keith considers that information for a moment, somehow _not_ denying it. “That’s okay.”

Lance gapes at him. “‘That’s okay?’ No, it’s not! He shouldn’t know these things about the future. What if something goes wrong?”

“We won’t say anything that would drastically change the past.”

“We shouldn’t say  _anything_! We could just stick him in a room until Allura or Shiro return and send him back.” Lance insists. “I just...wanted you to know. That he was here, first.”

“You don’t trust him to not screw something up, at all?” Keith isn’t sure he likes how amused his older self sounds when he asks that. Or that he somehow both has a say in the conversation, and yet doesn’t. At least...he’s on his side when it comes to giving Keith some answers.

Lance all but jumps to his feet. “Of course not! If it was younger me standing there, I would have already tried kicking him back to wherever he came from.”

Older Keith tosses his head back and laughs, and Keith is genuinely concerned he’s made it to a parallel dimension, rather than just the future.

“Just let me talk to him, if he doesn’t go back to when he came from after that, you have my permission to stick him in a room until Shiro or Allura return.”

“Hey! I didn’t agree to that.”

Older Keith looks to Keith once again after his outburst, but he simply waves Keith into the room, rather than reacting to the shout. “Technically, we did.”

And Keith doesn’t have an argument to that, so he awkwardly shuffles the rest of the way in.

Lance glances at him for just a moment, before focusing back on Older Keith. “I don’t like it. I don’t trust him.”

Older Keith reaches up, grasping one of Lance’s hands in his own and forcing Lance to look at him. “You don’t have to trust him, just trust me.” When Lance doesn’t say anything, Older Keith tugs him even closer. Their legs bump as Lance stumbles towards him, but he stays upright. “Lance, trust me.”

Lance closes his eyes, as if steeling himself against something. “I just don’t want things to change. If something we do or say here affects him, affects his future, I-”

“I won’t let things get screwed up. And if they do, I’ll fix it.”

Lance opens his eyes, if only to roll them at the ludicrous claim. “How would you even know there was something to fix if the past changes?”

“I’ll know. Trust me?”

Lance leans forward, pressing a kiss to Older Keith’s mouth. It’s a chaste kiss, lasting no more than a few quick seconds, but Keith feels like time freezes altogether as he watches them. When they, finally, break apart, Lance slips his hand from Older Keith’s to cup his face.

“Don’t let him screw this up for me, Mullet.”

Older Keith smiles. He lifts his hand to squeeze Lance’s once more before Lance pulls away entirely, and that’s when Keith sees the small metal ring around his finger. And he thought the child was the weirdest thing about the future.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Lance leaves without another look to either Keith, but Older Keith watches him go. And Keith watches himself, thinking Lance might be onto something with his worries. Because this definitely feels like the kind of information that he could change-screw up-their past with.

Older Keith finally turns to face him. “You can ask, but I can’t promise, I can answer all of your questions.”

Keith stares at him. He doesn’t even know where to begin. “I-Is everyone okay?”

Keith isn’t actually sure he wants the answer to that question, but it’s out before he can second guess himself.

“Yes.”

He doesn’t expect the relief that washes over him when he hears the answer to be so visceral and he has to take a moment to reorient himself. When he feels calmer, he looks over his older self again. There are small scars along his arms, as well as one on his forehead and on the side of his throat. Keith had noticed them on Older Lance and Hunk as well. One cut across Lance’s face, just under his eye, and what looked like claw marks had taken a chunk out of Hunk’s cheek. His eyes trail down, to where dark pants hide Older Keith’s metal limb.  “What about your leg?”

Older Keith simply shrugs. “Injuries happen.”

“But when, what, maybe if I know I could-”

“If you knew going into a mission you absolutely were going to lose your leg, would you still be able to go and operate as well as you normally could?”

Keith wants to say yes, or that he could somehow avoid it if he knew what to look for, but something in Older Keith’s expression stops him. “Is the mission that important?”

“Absolutely.” Something in the way he says it stops Keith from even trying to ask more questions about the injury. So he moves on, to something a little more pressing to what he learned since his arrival to the future.

“What about Lance? When did that-”

Older Keith shakes his head, stopping the question before it’s even fully formed. “Don’t worry about that,”

“Too late.”

“It...It happens. But you can’t go back expecting things to happen at a certain time or in a certain way, or you’ll only be disappointed. Just trust that when it’s time, you’ll know,” Older Keith says carefully. “And don’t expect things to be perfect or easy. You’ll drive each other up the walls more days than not,”

“Oh that’s reassuring,”

“But it gets easier,” Older Keith continues as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “It gets better. A dramatic change in the dynamic of your relationship takes an adjustment period. But then everything starts to fall into place again, as long as you don’t have some overwhelming expectations stopping you from letting things happen naturally.”

That answers exactly zero of Keith’s questions, just inspires more, but it’s obviously the best answer he’s getting. “What about the...child?”

“We found Kaia a little over a year ago.”

Keith catches on that word. “Found? So she’s...adopted?”

Older Keith nods. “More or less, yes.”

Keith states at his future self. There’s something unbelievably relaxed and open in his expression, his body language, as he sits on the couch, completely unsurprised by the presence of his younger self. And Keith has to ask.

“Why did you want to answer my questions?”

For a moment, he doesn’t think he’ll get an answer after all, but then Older Keith sits forward, being sure to meet his eyes with a gravely serious expression.

“When you first saw me, what was your first thought? Not about my appearance, just in general?”

Keith remembers without even trying, the shock of seeing himself nearly twenty years older and still alive. Alive and happy.

He doesn’t say anything, but his older self seems to know anyways. “You were on Naxzela, right? Before you came here. Right after your suicide flight?”

Keith jumps to his own defense. “It wasn’t a suicide flight.”

“Try to feed that line to someone who didn’t live through it,” Older Keith shoots down his argument without so much as a blink of his eye. “Making it this far, it’s worth it. Everything that happens from here on out for you, even the bad stuff, it’s worth it.”

“What if we’re not actually from the same time line? What if it’s not?”

“I promise, it is.”

“But-”

“It is.”

Keith stares at him. He wasn’t sure he still believed him, but he wanted to. He wanted to be as sure of something as his older-his future-self sounded.

“One last question?”

“Okay.”

Keith takes a deep breath. “Is the war over?”

“Yes.” 

* * *

_“Keith! Keith! Keith c’mon answer me!”_

_Keith groaned as he came to again. He squinted around the unfamiliar ship around him. He was on the...castle? No. This was something else._

_“Keith?”_

_Finally, Keith noticed the screen in front of him with Matt’s worried face staring back._

_“Are you okay?” He asked. “What were you thinking!?”_

_Past Matt’s face, wreckage of the Galra ship floated out before him. Overhead, he could see just the bottom half of Lotor’s ship, high above the destruction he had wrought._

_“I-I’m fine.”_

* * *

Keith feels a hand on his shoulder before he realizes Lance had even rejoined him. Keith lifts a hand, intertwining his fingers with his husband’s and tilts his head back to see him.

“He’s gone?” Lance asks, looking around the room.

He nods. “After I answered some questions, he just...faded away.”

Lance looks down at him. “Are you okay?”

Keith nods again. “Yeah, yeah it was good.”

Lance hums softly. “Hunk and Kaia are making cookies.”

“Meaning I’ve been banned from the kitchen until further notice?”

Lance laughs softly. “Yes. But I’ll bring you some when they’re done.”

Keith drops his hand to push himself up. “I think I’m going to the training deck for awhile.”

Lance watches him make his away around the couch before reaching out, threading a few fingers through Keith’s belt loops to hold him in place. “Feeling nostalgic?”

“Something like that.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Lance teases. Keith pinches his side, smiling to himself as Lance twitches away, swatting at his hand. “Behave, or I’ll bring you burned ones.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Hunk and Kaia don’t burn cookies.”

Lance childishly sticks his tongue out at him. “I’ll burn them before bringing them to you.”

Keith pulls him closer, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I’ll get over it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Come yell at me, request new things, or just stalk the progress of other fics on tumblr @ thathopelessromantic.tumblr.com


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